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Guest: Jim Muncy: Topics: Space Policy, budget issues, company overviews, and more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Jim Muncy back to the program to discuss current space policy and budget issues before the U.S. Congress, company updates, and much more. During the first segment of our 1 hour 50 minute discussion, Jim provided us with the groundwork for most of our discussion by going back to the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, then the update to it known as the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. He talked about both the House and Senate versions of the NASA and space budget bills and some of the differences between the two bills. One difference which he explained in detail early in the second segment had to do with the learning period which is important for the developing industry. Another difference between the two revolved around extending the ISS commitment to 2024 plus issues relating to BLEO space. When asked if he thought the final bill would be signed or vetoed by the president, he said it was nonpartisan and he did not see problems getting it signed into law. Listeners asked about funding SLS. Much was said about SLS in both segments but one listener asked Jim why so many supported SLS given its shortcomings. Jim explained the mindset of many SLS supporters in congress. As you will hear, SLS is hardly a black or white issue. This discussion led to a related discussion on developing a new rocket engine, the issues involved, the competitors, methane versus other fuel, and more. In particular, he used Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers as an example supporting is analysis of the situation. Jim was asked about the impact of the Falcon 9 failure which led him to address the need for multiple launchers and competition. Later, Alex asked him about his areas of concern regarding the pending budget legislation. He talked about sequestration, spending caps, delays, and the problem with operating on a CR which is likely. This is a lengthy but important discussion so don’t miss it. Before the segment ended, Jim was asked about the lunar lander. Jim then talked about the Flexible Path, Google Lunar XPrize, cislunar space development and Mars. Jim advocated the need for public private partnerships, then he was asked about international partnerships.

In the second segment, we started with an email question from Doug inquiring about the Augustine Commission presenting an option for returning to the Moon with landers developed in a public-private program context. After Jim’s response, I asked him to refer back to a comment he made in the first segment and to explain what was meant by the learning period. This was an important discussion so don’t miss it. As part of his response, he also provided a short overview of the suborbital industry and participants plus the orbital industry. A good portion of this segment focused on the importance of the learning period. Our last question of the evening was from Helen. She asked Jim if it would be beneficial to ask political candidates in the 2016 races space related questions assuming they know nothing about space. Jim supported the idea but he told us all to make the question broader than just what interests us in the space industry. He gave several examples of this. What he said made sense to me so I urge all of you who get a chance to question a 2016 candidate, ask your space question the way Jim suggested.

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Guests: John Batchelor, Marcia Smith, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: NASA 2016 Budget, SLS, Commercial Crew & more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm). For those of you listening to archives on live365.com & rating the programs, please email me the reasons for your rating. This will definitely help improve Space Show programming. Thank you. Please note that audio and transition issues are a result of copying the John Batchelor broadcast & are not within my control as they originate in the Batchelor studio.

John Batchelor and I welcomed back Marcia Smith of spacepolicyonline.com to discuss the NASA 2016 budget per the recent decisions made by the House Appropriations Committee. We discussed SLS, Planetary Science, Orion, Commercial Crew, cuts to Earth Sciences plus the criticism against these allocations by both The White House and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. We also talked about Mr. Bolden’s comments saying that if commercial crew were not fully funded, it would seriously delay the program. While the committee allocated a larger amount to the commercial crew program than before, it did fall short of what both The White House and NASA said the program needed. We also talked spending caps and sequestration. Marcia explained how that would work as overall the total spending for the agencies involved have to stay within the caps but the allocations within the agencies can differ which is why there are winners and losers. John questioned Marcia on SLS as he was not that supportive of it. Note what Marcia had to say about SLS but whatever one thinks about it, the program clearly has the support of many in Congress.

You can email Mr. Batchelor or Marcia Smith through me or her website.

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Guest: Marcia Smith. Topics: NASA budgets and their process, specific NASA programs, U.S. congress and more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Marcia Smith back to the program to discuss the proposed NASA FY 16 budget and process, sequestration, specific NASA projects and more. During our one segment 69 minute discussion, Ms. Smith started out by stating that the proposed 2016 FY NASA budget was bigger than the 2015 NASA budget by about $500 million! Ms. Smith continued saying the trend was upward with continued strong support for SLS, Orion, and even Europa. Also, NASA remains largely bipartisan in its congressional support. I asked our guest about the coming sequestration for 2016-2021 and here, uncertainty prevails. We also learned that there would be more flexibility for targeted sequestration cuts than there were the first time. Sequestration has a focus towards two categories, security and non-security projects and expenditures. Bob in Tucson sent in our first email to inquire about a possible “war” within the NASA planetary science and human spaceflight directorates. A question came in regarding congressional motivators with a focus on SLS motivators. Among the SLS motivators mentioned by our guest were national prestige, global leadership, preserving and growing our industrial base, and keeping people employed. Jerry emailed in asking about NASA educational outreach and support in the proposed FY 16 budget. Our first caller was Michael Listner who wanted to expand on earlier comments about the private sector and NASA, specifically government programs. Marcia and Michael had an interesting discussion focusing on these issues. Both cited examples including ULA, the EELV program, and the concept of “skin in the game plus the opportunity for a private sector company to fail and maybe needing a government bailout if all our eggs were in that one private sector basket. The new Lockheed Jupiter commercial cargo space tug program was mentioned and Michael said it might be useful for removal of some space debris. The subject of building LEO infrastructure came up multiple times during our discussion, especially the issue of who or what entity would pay for its development. Government or the private sector? BJohn asked Marcia email questions about reusability thus providing NASA with more “bang for the buck” so to speak. I asked Marcia several questions about the discretionary part of our budget, we talked more about the Europa mission and the best way to influence congressional space policy makers. Our guest had some very interesting things to say about this so don’t miss the discussion. Near the end of the program, I asked if there was any serious effort to move to ten year funding for space and other very long projects given the likelihood of a program not lasting ten years due to congressional changes and program cuts. Marcia did mention that the shuttle and ISS programs survived so it was possible for a program to last a long time. She also did not think there would be ten year funding as congress would not give up its continue oversight responsibilities for such a long term obligation. Peter in San Diego asked about the 2016 elections and if we were likely to see a radical shift in space policy. Donald in Los Angeles asked if the one party congress would get the budget done or if we were likely to see a CR at the end of September. BJohn sent in another email asking about possible congressional motivators to be even more supportive of space than they have been given their $500 million budget increase. Beverly asked Marcia about international cooperation with space projects. Marcia said she was a strong supporter of international cooperation. She also provided us with a few of her excellent reasons for supporting international cooperation. Before the program ended, we came back to the issue of LEO infrastructure and cislunar development. Given the private sector’s reluctance to invest in these areas so far, a natural conclusion would be that the private or commercial markets are not yet developed.

Please post your comments on TSS blog above. Visit Marcia’s site, www.spacepolicyonline.com for the latest in space new and policy developments. You can reach Ms. Smith through her website or me.

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Guest: Tom Olson, Golden Oldie.. Topics: The year 2013 in review for all things space. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed Tom Olson back to the show for his 2013 space year in review. Note that this program was pre-recorded on Dec. 19, 2013 for play today, Dec. 31, 2013. During the first segment of our two hour program, Tom began the review by talking about the Chinese lunar lander now on the Moon. He expressed concern that Russian and the U.S. may be left behind though we did talk about the private U.S. lunar missions working on getting back to the Moon ASAP. Tom next talked about NewSpace successes during the year, the successful completion of the COTS program with both the Orbital and SpaceX launchers taking supplies to the ISS. Tom suggested commercial crew was on time for 2017 and that SpaceX was making good progress with Grasshopper and potential reusability. He talked about controversy over Pad 39A development, the recent Dream Chaser accident, and the emergency of commercial markets for the ISS with CASIS and Nanoracks. Before this segment ended, Tom talked about the impact of sequestration and space politics for the industry as a whole, then he addressed SLS. As the segment was about to end, he named a few of the 2013 busts including NASA Redirect Mission, Inspiration Mars, and Mars One.

In our second segment, we talked about space advocacy during the year and the success of the 2013 NewSpace Business Plan Competition. Space settlement was discussed and as was NewSpace outreach, including congressional outreach. Tom talked about progress with the suborbital companies and Virgin Galactic. This took him to the space tourism topic and the 2014 planned Virgin Galactic operational flights. Our guest was asked about the regulatory issues in 2013 and what he thought they would be like for 2014. For the most part, he predicted no change. We talked about financing space ventures and capital acquisition for 2013 as well as start-ups and space entrepreneurs. He also mentioned Armadillo Aerospace going dark during the year and mentioned the risks to the emerging commercial industry if funds become scarce or hard to obtain. Though this was a pre-recorded show, there were some advance email questions for Tom. One near the end of the program asked him about plans to do anything with his Colony Fund program. Tom said it was a great idea but 12-15 years ahead of its time and may someday be brought back to life. That said, he reminded us that the Colony Fund did advance the space scalable strategy. Before our discussion ended, Tom updated us on the activities of Walt Anderson and his new ventures.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can reach Tom through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

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Guest: Marcia Smith. Topics: U.S. space policy, budgets, Congress. Civics 101, SLS, Falcon Heavy, policy makers. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back Marcia Smith back to the show for a preview of the upcoming 114th Congress & space issues with a focus on budget issues & just how congress works with NASA & space policy. During our 97 minute discussion, we started out with a short Civics 101 lesson on how Congress works, NASA funding, & Congressional oversight of NASA. For those of you not that familiar with how the U.S. Congress works and funds space programs with NASA, you will find this short discussion most helpful. Marcia explained both Senate and House roles and their appropriations and authorization committees. As you will hear, Congress controls NASA spending and there is very little discretionary spending available to the NASA Administrator. As for the new Congress that will be taking office in early January, the big focus will be on budget issues because by law, the sequestration returns for Fiscal Year 16. If Congress keeps the sequestration in place, while hurtful to many government agencies and programs, it is damaging to NASA. We also talked about a possible renewed interest in the Europa Mission as Texas Representative John Culberson will chair the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science. His Houston district is close to JSC & he’s very enthusiastic about NASA and a Europa mission. Marcia mentioned the NASA SOFIA program as an example of Congress wanting the program despite it being eliminated in the budget proposal so it added it back in to the NASA budget. Listeners asked about long term projects being funded for longer than a year. Marcia addressed this issue though there is no good answer because Congress has oversight & they can change or modify positions from year to year. Our guest was asked about Congressional policy impact on the private & entrepreneurial space industry. Unless a public/private partnership exists or the government is a major customer of the private company, congressional policy does not overlap into the private sector. It is also important to distinguish between regulatory and budget issues as we are talking budget issues in this program. Several listeners wanted to know if the media and the public could impact Congress & space policy makers. Another set of listener & Space Show comments over recent weeks addressed the 2016 presidential election, wanting to know if history bears out a change in president equaling a big change in space policy. Don’t miss this discussion. Later, Ralph in Phoenix wanted to know if the Falcon Heavy was very successful, would such a success impact congress & policy makers to move away from the SLS program as unnecessary. Doug called in to clarify Ralph’s question for a more precise response from our guest. It was clear that Doug and many other listeners believe that a FH success should and would impact SLS policy, perhaps demonstrating that SLS was not needed in light of a successful Falcon Heavy. However, Marcia questioned that outcome. Don’t miss this important discussion. BJohn in Sweden wanted to know if SLS, when operational, would create more space opportunities for congress to consider. Kelly got the last email question in asking about the Space Act Agreement vs. the FAR (cost plus contracting). He wanted to know if the changes in congress might result in more big space projects using a Space Act Agreement over the FAR. Marcia did not think so given the FAR offers congress more oversight. As the show was ending, I asked Marcia what we should look for as hints about space policy in the new congress. Our guest pointed to the budget and what happens with the FY 2016 sequestration already on the books.

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Guest: Rex Ridenoure. Topics: Ecliptic Enterprises updates, commercial space, commercial space and the future. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed back Rex Ridenoure to the show for this 96 minute discussion containing Ecliptic Enterprises updates, commercial space programs and business models, plus much more. In the first segment, our guest provided us with updates for Ecliptic from the time he left the company to do consulting for private missions and then his return to the position he left. Government sequestration happened about the same time and hurt Ecliptic as you will hear, plus it caused Rex to come back to Ecliptic. You will also hear how business has come back for Ecliptic since sequestration ended. Rex talked about new contracts, the focus of their business and more. He spoke about RocketCam and updated us on some of its new market potential plus features and advancements. We talked about the emergence of cubesat companies as potential Ecliptic customers given the advancements in this field. Rex talked about a new emerging business line for the company in the form of being an integrating contractor rather than only a subcontractor to a prime. Export control and ITAR were discussed when I asked if RocketCam was being sold to foreign launchers. The short answer was no but listen to what Rex had to say about export control and the hope for new rules in the near future. Rex introduced us to the concept of experiment control on the ISS. This pertains to experiments on board the ISS being controlled by ground personnel rather than by the ISS crew. Doug called to ask about the purpose of the Ecliptic projects plus goals for Rex with his work. Don’t miss the killer reply Rex gave Doug. Other topics in this segment dealt with rad tolerant hardware as opposed to radiation hardened hardware and streaming data back to Earth on the DSN or another system.

In the second segment, Rex spent most of the time talking about commercial space and his years in service to developing commercial space including early in his career. See the career time table for Rex that I have posted on the blog. Rex identified a few of the early commercial space projects he was involved with, then he said we had finished the first wave of reconnaissance of our solar system. Listen to his explanation for this statement. Rex next talked about one of the next big commercial areas for development which he said would be bringing space resources to the Earth economic system. Listener Paul emailed a question asking about commercial space efforts in other countries. Following that discussion, Rex told us about attending the 10th anniversary XPrize event at Mojave which was an invitation only event. I asked Rex if people were disappointed that ten years had gone by without commercial spaceflights. He did say that their was an air of disappointment in the room among those attending the event. Near the end of our show, Rex was asked about HSF to Mars. He also talked about the early program Elon Musk wanted to do, Mars Oasis. SLS came up for discussion, then Rex provided us with a list of take away points for our discussion. He ended by saying that commercial launch dated back to 1963 and the trend was for more commercial launches and space projects. He said commercial space was based on a 50 year old proven model.

Guest: Dr. Sandra Magnus, AIAA Executive Director. Topics: AIAA SciTech Conference for 2014, AIAA Forum Reorganization Plan. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com.
Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed back Dr. Sandra Magnus, AIAA Executive Director, for a one hour discussion about the upcoming AIAA SciTech Conference 2014 to be held the week of Jan. 13, 2014 at the Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, MD. For more information, visit the AIAA conference website,http://www.aiaa.org/scitech2014. Dr. Magnus started the discussion by going over the new AIAA Forum structure for their meetings and conferences. This Forum structure allows them to combine several smaller conferences held throughout the year into one larger conference. In fact, when you visit the AIAA conference website, you will see all the conferences combined in the Science and Technology conference next week. We talked about AIAA conferences being multi-track and Dr. Magnus defined the different AIAA forums for us. Regarding the upcoming SciTech conference, we talked about student and youth programs at the conference, speed mentoring and the mix between public and private companies and organizations. We learned that the poster sessions are now planned as electronic sessions, and our guest went over not only the keynote speakers but the special lecture programs that are part of the SciTech Conference. Cybersecurity was highlighted in our discussion and we spent some time talking about cybersecurity and how it has grown in garnering attention over the years. A listener wanted to know about business and investment panels. Dr. Magnus talked about one such panel on Tuesday addressing “Turning Technology Into a Business.” Doug called in to provide a personal testimonial to AIAA given his recent experiences at AIAA Space Conferences in Pasadena and San Diego. As the program ended, our guest and I talked about the AIAA local chapters and their monthly meetings. These local chapter meetings provide excellent discussions on hot topic issues and more.

Please post comments/questions on The Space Show Blog above. You can reach our guest through AIAA or by emailing me at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Tom Olson. Topics: The year 2013 in review for all things space. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed Tom Olson back to the show for his 2013 space year in review. Note that this program was pre-recorded on Dec. 19, 2013 for play today, Dec. 31, 2013. During the first segment of our two hour program, Tom began the review by talking about the Chinese lunar lander now on the Moon. He expressed concern that Russian and the U.S. may be left behind though we did talk about the private U.S. lunar missions working on getting back to the Moon ASAP. Tom next talked about NewSpace successes during the year, the successful completion of the COTS program with both the Orbital and SpaceX launchers taking supplies to the ISS. Tom suggested commercial crew was on time for 2017 and that SpaceX was making good progress with Grasshopper and potential reusability. He talked about controversy over Pad 39A evelopment, the recent Dream Chaser accident, and the emergency of commercial markets for the ISS with CASIS and Nanoracks. Before this segment ended, Tom talked about the impact of sequestration and space politics for the industry as a whole, then he addressed SLS. As the segment was about to end, he named a few of the 2013 busts including NASA Redirect Mission, Inspiration Mars, and Mars One.

In our second segment, we talked about space advocacy during the year and the success of the 2013 NewSpace Business Plan Competition. Space settlement was discussed and as was NewSpace outreach, including congressional outreach. Tom talked about progress with the suborbital companies and Virgin Galactic. This took him to the space tourism topic and the 2014 planned Virgin Galactic operational flights. Our guest was asked about the regulatory issues in 2013 and what he thought they would be like for 2014. For the most part, he predicted no change. We talked about financing space ventures and capital acquisition for 2013 as well as start-ups and space entrepreneurs. He also mentioned Armadillo Aerospace going dark during the year and mentioned the risks to the emerging commercial industry if funds become scarce or hard to obtain. Though this was a pre-recorded show, there were some advance email questions for Tom. One near the end of the program asked him about plans to do anything with his Colony Fund program. Tom said it was a great idea but 12-15 years ahead of its time and may someday be brought back to life. That said, he reminded us that the Colony Fund did advance the space scalable strategy. Before our discussion ended, Tom updated us on the activities of Walt Anderson and his new ventures.

Guest: Brian Weeden. USAF Space Fence for national security. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed Brian Weeden back to the program to discuss the issue of the shutting down of the USAF Space Fence. Our discussion was based on Brian’s August 26, 2013 Space Review article, “Gambling with a Space Fence: An analysis of the decision to shut down the Air Force Space Surveillance Fence” at www.thespacereview.com/article/2357/1. During the first segment of our 1 hour 29 minute discussion, Brian provided us with a brief history of the Space Fence, what it has been used for, its technical characteristics, and it recent cancellation partially due to sequestration regarding its approximate $15 million annual budget expense. Brian also explained its capabilities in detecting spy satellites, space debris and other objects and the size of objects which it can detect. He discussed both continuous wave radar and pulsed radar, pointing out that the fence which dated from the late 1950’s, was uncued. Richard Easton called in as his father Roger was one of the developers for the space fence in January 1958. Richard contributed greatly to our discussion. Brian then talked about the probable replacement for the fence, an S Band fence which would result in higher frequencies enabling the detection of smaller objects, probably with a very high rate pulsed radar. Right now the S Band fence is estimated to cost about $1.8 billion but as you will hear, it may never be built. As to how our national security has been impacted without the fence operating, Brian said it was difficult to assess so listen carefully to his analysis. Brian also talked about challenging DOD budget issues, the difference in budget years with DOD as compared to the government as a whole, and again, sequestration.

In our second segment, Brian addressed several of the political issues surrounding the space fence issue. When asked how long it would take for the S Band system to become operational were it funded, he said around 2018. Two companies are competing to do it if and when the project is authorized and funded. We also talked about the U.S. sharing satellite tracking information with all satellite operators including private companies, thus using an international partnership to finance the space fence since it benefits everyone. As you will hear, there appears to be control and sensitivity issues which prevent the air force from going that route. Later I asked Brian about stealth satellites and then he took a listener question about the way space debris was portrayed in the movie Gravity. We spent some time discussing the impact of a movie like Gravity on the public regarding the space debris issue. As the program was ending, Brian said he was not that optimistic about a replacement fence and brought to our attention the need to upgrade computer systems that process the data. As you will hear, this is a substantial problem that is not being addressed.

Please post comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can reach Brian through me or SWF.

Guests: Stanley Kennedy, Jr., Maureen O’Brien. Topics: Oakman Aerospace, cubesats, ITAR reform. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.

We welcomed Stan Kennedy and Maureen O’Brien to the program for this 58 minute discussion about Oakman Aerospace, cubesats, the Small Sat Conference, ITAR reform and more. During one segment discussion, Stan took us through the brief history of Oakman Aerospace (www.oak-aero.com) which just completed its first fiscal year. Oakman Aerospace (OAI) specializes in rapid and responsive, modular, open-architecture space systems which Stan discussed with us, plus more information is available on their website. We talked about changes in the small satellite and cubesat industries, the effect of sequestration which may be driving companies to more commercial options, and financial options including crowd sourcing using Kickstarter. Stan fielded several listener questions regarding the use of Kickstarter, the possibility of over saturation of the developing industry, the drive to push toward more commercial space ventures. We also talked about the importance of international participation and ITAR Reform. At one point, I asked about bottlenecks in this area and our guest cited the 1248 report. Maureen discussed the current state of ITAR reform efforts and the impact of ITAR on the smaller companies. One of the issues brought up in this discussion was the need to be able to retain foreign students and workers with a STEM background or experience so that we don’t lose them back to their home country or another country. Later, a listener asked about student internships at OAI and we also learned that the company is hiring. As our program was drawing to a close, I asked about the OAI year two plans and the company five year plan. As you will hear, they are planning for growth and market share increases. We talked about their IP being one of their main products & the need for standardization. Charles Pooley called back in to over the costs required and the realistic time line for getting a secondary payload ride. This discussion supports the need for lower launch costs and for additional small satellite and cubesat launch options. Near the program’s end, our guest responded to an email question about the USML and CCL regarding ITAR.

Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can contact our guests through their website or me.